Roller-support for cloth-cutting machines.



D. S. MAINHN.

ROLLER SUPPORT FOR CLOTH CUHLNO MAOHLNES.

MPLICATION FILED !AN.1'6, X917.

Patented Deal?, 1918.

ullllln Cil DAVID S. MAIMIN, OF NEW YORK, N.

Y., Assia-N012. To H.

lVAIMIN CO., INC., A CORPO- RATION or NEW YORK.

ROLLER-SUPPORT FOR CLOTH-CUTTING MACHINES.

To all @07mm t may concern.'

Be it knownthat I, DAVID S.` MAIMIN, a citizen of the United States, residing at 97 Ft. Washingtonavenue, city of New York, State of New York, have invented certain .new and useful Improvements in Rollei'- Supports for Cloth-Cutting Machines; and

do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains, to make and use the same.

This invention cutting' machines ing a base-plate which supports the cutter, the cutter-actuating means and a handle, the handle being grasped by an operator so that the base-plate may be freely moved about on the cutting table during operation of the cutter relative to a pile of fabric.

More particularly, the invention involves the provision of improved roller supports for a cloth cutting machine, these improved rollers being adapted to be mounted on the base-plate and being so constituted as to facilitate rapid and convenient employment of the cutter and at the same time to minimize the danger of ruining a piece of cloth` due to too great or too small a tendency of the base-plate to respond to the hand of the operator in being guided over the table top during cutting.

In previous cloth"l relates broadly to cloth cutting machines of the type specified, the spaced roller supports have commonly been cylindrical rollers revolubly mounted in suitable antifriction bearings carried by the base-plate or cutter support. Ball casters are impracticable for several reasons. In the first place each ball must be of a certain minimum diameter, so as not to raise the upper surface of the bedplate too high above the table top to permit efficient cutting, but this results in a deficienoy of what may be termed the effective tread of the roller supports. When ball casters or the like are employed the cloth cutting machinehas too great a tendency to respond to slight surfacev irregularities of the table top and slight inequalities of pres sure on the directing handle, with the result that the bed-plate is likely to wabble unexpectedly and thereby render rapid cutting impracticable. On the other hand cylindrical rollers are subject to the disadvantage that the operator can not readily direct the Specication of Letters Patent. Application filed January 16, 1917.

of the familiar kind hav` Patented Dec. 17, 1918.

Serial Nol 142,726.

base-plate over the table top so as to rapidly apply the cutter to follow the sharp corners or curvatures of small radius in a pattern.

According to the present invention, a roller is provided which has been found to have all the advantages of a ball caster and also of a cylindrical roller, and yet none of their disadvantages, at least so far as observed in actual practice, especially when .the new roller is employed in combination withthe rockingly and yieldingly mounted :rollersupport common in such machines. In carrying out the invention, each of the rollers is formed so as to be of prolate spheroid form relative to its axis of rotation, that is, to be of circular cross-section from end to end while gradually tapering toward each endk from a point adjacent to its middle.

he present invention will be clearly understood `rom the following description when taken in` connection with the accompanying drawing illustrating the same, of whichA Figure l is a top plan view of a cutter support or bed-plate equipped with the improved rollers; Fig. 2 is a side elevation thereof; Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail view being a section on the line 3 3 of Fig. l; and Fig.` 4 is a bottom plan view of a part ofliebed-plate showing the parts indicated 1n 1g. 3.

Referring to these drawings the base-plate orcutter support comprises a main portion 5 and a ramp 6 hingedly connected to the main portion and adapted to be advanced ahead of the cutter. The cutter is not shown, but as is well known this cutter may be mounted upon a standard the lower end of which is suitably secured in a recess 5a in the main portion of the bed-plate.

The reference 7 indicates the improved roller, best shown` in Figs. 3 and 4. It will be noted that the essential characteristic of the roller is a rolling surface which has as its generating element a line substantially coincident with an arc drawn on a radius many times the radius of a sphere having a diameter equal to the greatest diameter of 'the new roller; that is, the radius of this arc is many times the radius of the largest ball caster which could be substituted for the new roller and yet not elevate the baseplate higher than it is elevated by the roller above the table top. By many times is meant at least ve or six times, ideal results having been obtained in tests where the arc base-plate 5.

radius was about ten or twelve times the radius of the ball-caster which would have t'o bev substituted for the roller in order' to keep the base-plate at the same low height above the table top. f

rlhe rollers 7 are preferably employed, as is common in the art, in connection with means whereby each roller is journaled in its own independent rockable mounting carried by the base-plate 6, as shown clearly in Figs. 3 and 4, which illustrate one of the mounting's for a roller 7. Each roller 7 is loosely hung on a shaft 8, small anti-friction rollersv 9 being interposed between the roller 7 and its shaft 8. This shaft 8 is set in anannular member 10, washers 11 being loosely hung on the shaft to center the roller 7 relative to the opening 12 in the annular member. These parts 8, 9, 10 and 11 form a self-contained mounting or journal for a roller 7 which permits the roller to freely revolve at all times. Each of the four rollerjournals is seated loosely in a suitable recess 13 formed below and concentric with an aperture 14 cut transversely through the A plurality of yielding elements 15 of rubber or the like are interposed between the member' 10 and the roof of the recess 13, and set-screws 16 loosely engage diametrically opposite shelves 17 formed in the annularmember 10; the member 10 being thus rockinglyj and yieldin'gly mounted in its recess 18. As a result, roller 7 is freely revoluble on its shaft 9, is permanently secured to the base-plate, and at4 the same time is rockingly and yieldingly mounted on the base-plate. Each roller 7 may therefore act independently of the other rollers 7 to momentarily displace its axis from the horizon- Copies of this patent may be obtained for tal, to compensate for even very slight irregularities in the table top. It will be observed thatthe tread characteristic of the present invention will be preserved at all times and irrespective of axial deviations of the various rollers; which is not the case when cylindrical rollers are used in connection with mounting means adapted to permit any one roller to tilt its axis relative to the axes of the other rollers.

I claim:

1. In a cloth cutting machine as described, a' cutter-support, and a plurality of horizontally elongated rollers carried by the' cuttersupport for supporting the latter, the rollers being spaced laterally of the cutter-support and being of prolate spheroid form with their axes substantially parallel. y

2. In a cloth cutting machine as described, a cutter-support, and a plurality of horizontally elongated rollers arranged on the cutter-support with their axes substantially parallel for rolling friction with a table-top while spacing the cutter-support above the table-top, the generating element of the rolling surface of each roller being substantially an arc on a radius many times the radius of a; sphere having a diameter equal to the greatest diameter of the roller.

3. In a cloth cutting machine as described, the combination with the bed-plate of a plu-l rality of rockingly and yieldingly arranged roller-journals, and a roller revolubly carried by each of such journals, the rollers' b'eing of prolate spheroid form with their axes substantially parallel.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

DAVID S. MAIMIN.

five cents ea/ch, by addressing the Comm-i'ssioner'of Patents,

Washington, D. C. f 

